What a hectic and occasionally worried man Mr Phil Collins is. Hire company Hilton Sound of SE17, recently painted for us a day in the life of PC's PA... 21.00 two AMSs pack up, 22.30 Genesis Farm Maintenance Manager phones Hilton Sound stressing replacements needed in Bordeaux asap, 09.00 following morning, customs office open, 09.30 carnet obtained and bunged through excise chaps in record time, 10.00 new AMS units on plane to Bordeaux, 16.00 soundcheck at Bordeaux, 21.00 Phil Collins on stage with fresh AMSs. You too can have a day like this.

Is your mind crossed with the thought of buying a Music 500 synth add-on for the BBC Micro? To sway you, its makers, Hybrid Technology have produced a 40-minute demo tape of 500-produced pieces "by composers as diverse as Duran Duran, Scott Joplin and Haydn". They were all recorded on an ordinary hi-fi without effects — even the echo was done by the 500 itself. If you want to test the digital water, ask for "An Evening In The Company of the Music 500", from Hybrid Technology, (Contact Details), & bung them £1.95.

The software re-writers have been at their art again. Hinton Instruments have given birth to a mark 1.1 version of MIDIC their 'intelligent MIDI interface'. Operating in two modes, the MIDIC can: filter MIDI data to take out aftertouch, pitchbend, real time, active sensing or system exclusive codes; can split a master keyboard into four registers for up to 16 keyboard assignments, with detailed, independent control for each assignment (PROCESS) or: buffer and convert codes between MIDI and RS232, in either 8-bit binary or ASCII Hex formats (with enough buffering to let the host computer execute graphics or disc accessing tasks without being interrupted) (INTERFACE).

Hinton also claim "many RS232 controlled devices may be upgraded to MIDI control by MIDIC with a custom expansion ROM. Such devices include the Yamaha REV1 and YDD2600 and the AMS 15-80s." Details on application as they say. (Contact Details), as we then might add.

Ever in search of spunky little ideas, EMG have two new pickups for the Fender-type person. The RPC gives you a Control (C) to sweep through the Resonant (R) frequency and set it at different Peaks (P) — apparently it helps the crossover between dual and single coil sounds. For bass players there's the EMG-Jazz which has a single pole piece which will match five and six string basses, and the magnet is curved to mimic the radius of the fingerboard.

Give us your cigarette lighter so I can read this press release. It says "inexpensive stage lighting package for groups and bands from Derek James Direct Sound and Lighting Sales." The package has 4x300W Par Cans with lamps and telescopic tripod rising to 9ft and costing £149.99 inc VAT. You can get up to 12 cans on the supporting T bar using extra telescopic sections, and there are clips on the cans for filters, plus thumb screws to set the angle. (Contact Details), if interested. You can put the lighter back now.

When Yamaha held their DX Owner's Club Hi-Tech convention at the headquarters for the Central London Youth Project, they were so impressed they (a) bought the company? (b) bought them a pet Shibunkin? (c) bought them a Yamaha RX11 drum machine? Happy are the boys at CLYP, and many are their rhythms.

Tanrak's new expandable effects' rack can take up to 11 of their plug in modules plus a power supply. Each unit is vertically arranged, 6in high, with good quality spec behind them. So far the range runs to a gate, dynamic noise filter, parametric equaliser, multi-delay, modulation oscillator, input module, output module, and the power unit. To come are a pyschoacoustic enhancer and an infinite flanger. Tanrak make play of the fiscal sense of building your effects systems unit by unit, but for the true cash hoarder, they are also offering the effects as buildable kits.

A new up-market four-track reel-to-reel machine from TEAC will soon be available. The 34B combines the facilities of the A3440 (individual channel input/output and monitoring) with the superior head design of the more recent 34. It runs at 15 and 7½i.p.s. on ¼in tape, and will sell for around £1,350.

AMEK Systems of Salford, who won a Queen's Award For Export Achievement this year for their sales of professional studio consoles, have announced a range of rack-mounting goodies. For £165 you can have the RM01, a 1 Pin unit that can hold up to ten modules; another £200 will give you the power supply. The CL01 compressor/limiter will set you back £265 for its separate sections, each offering fully variable facilities. The PM01 is a four-band version of AMEK's parametric equalisers; boost/cut, frequency select and Q controls are fitted for all four bands, as well as waveform selection on the high and low frequencies. For which you pay £300.

STOP PRESS: 100 words to tell you our first impressions of the BMF shindig at Olympia. OK, here they come: Early days star-spotting limited to the ancient likes of Roy Harper and Dave Gilmour; cheap electrics keep on coming, like the eastern Marlin range with a decent-looking under-a-ton Strat; Overwater took a bass's E-string down to C with a Roto-sound .135 attached (that's low); Casio demo of the new SZ1 sequencer driving lots of CZ objects adjudged a fine wheeze; One Two stand adjudged Best Stand At Show in specially commissioned survey. Next month: The Detail.

A postcard from Devon this week: Manson Guitars have fled from their stockbroker belt location in Crowborough for pleasanter surroundings in Devon. Andy is at pains to point out that this doesn't mean expansion — just a nicer workshop — and they're still making every guitar themselves, at the rate of nine per month. The new address is (Contact Details).

Special Angy Letter Of The Month Award for this issue goes to Future Music in Chelmsford in reaction to John Morrish's Overtones' feature in July, in which he dared to express an opinion about jazz.

"I have just had the misfortune to read the July edition of 1-2-Testing, and in particular an article by John Morrish on Jazz. His total ignorance of this music and the tenacity of his attach (sic) provoked me to retaliate in the only way I know.

"If you are going to support journalism of this standard, I am not going to give you support, as you do not deserve it, and I wish to cancel my advertising in your magazine as from now!

"I have struggled hard as a jazz musician for twenty years against this kind of total ignorance that the John Morrish of this World permeate (sic). Why is it the only media coverage of jazz is wasted on people who know nothing about it!" Trevor Taylor, Future Music, (Contact Details).

For some more constructive correspondence on the matter, see page 25, Letters.

As you will by now no doubt have noticed, you are 20p deeper in debt than last month. It is called a price rise. Would that we were 20p richer; alas, no. This is merely to keep the wolf from the door, the ink from the paper, the staples from the corner when they ought to be in the middle where it folds. If it were possibly within my power, I would personally make you all pay £38.50 for each issue. But it is not to be. I know this is a great disappointment to us both as you would happily fork out such a sum for this fabulous magazine and I would happily donate it to a publishing charity of my choice. Sadly, we are both at the mercy of market forces. Promising you our continuing informative, provocative and mildly amusing style. Yours Otis Testing.

Hotlicks Instruction Tapes have let loose another in their "Masters" series, this time featuring John Entwistle. Two hour-long cassettes plus a 64-page book for £21.40, and you get John's dulcet tones telling you about righthand tapping, chords, false harmonics, slapping, and a whole host of uniquely Entwistlian tricks. Also, we promised, a liberal dash of the man's sense of humour. Laughin' John Entwistle??